Waking up to the issue of fire safety after the KSRTC bus fire accident in Nelamangala on Tuesday which claimed a life, the government has made fire extinguishers mandatory in all private and government buses.
Noting that it was the third incident in four years, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said the government would fix a deadline for fitting the fire extinguishers. The Transport Department had to invite tender to procure extinguishers for over 24,000 existing buses from the four corporations, he admitted.
He said department authorities are suspecting the role of combustible material that was allegedly being carried in the bus leading to the accident. But, the Forensic Science Laboratory report is awaited. On shortage of buses, Mr. Reddy said KSRTC buses that have covered over 9 lakh km will be off the roads by March. While it had been planned to phase out over 4,000 buses, over 5,500 new buses will be added by May.
Of the new buses, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will get 1,650 buses, and this includes 150 Volvo buses, he said. Mr. Reddy said the government wanted to add over 3,000 new buses by next year, of which State would procure 1,500 buses from its exchequer.
When asked on the reported plans of the BMTC hiring 1,500 buses from private operators, he said no final decision had been taken so far. Even if BMTC hires the buses, they will be operated by the corporation staff and there is no question of outsourcing the service, he clarified.
